The 2016 UCI Road World Championships took place in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, in October 2016. The championships was moved from the traditional September to October to avoid extreme hot and blustery weather. The event consisted of a road race, a team time trial and a time trial for elite men and women and a road race and a time trial for men under-23, junior men and junior women. It was the 89th Road World Championships and the first time that Qatar and the Middle East hosted the championships.

Bidding

Qatar was announced as the host during the

2012 UCI Road World Championships The 2012 UCI Road World Championships took place in the southern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, also known as South Limburg, between September 15 and 23. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women and men under 23 ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

also made a bid but was unsuccessful. Norway will now be the host of the 2017 UCI Road World Championships.

UCI WorldTeam boycott of team time trial

In August 2016 the

AIGCP AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels) is an association that groups together many professional cycling teams. Based in Lannion, France, its managing director is Luuc Eisenga, and the president is manager Iwan Speken ...

approved a motion for all

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road cycling, the UCI World Tour or UCI ProTour ...

s to boycott the time trial event, due to the UCI insisting that WorldTeams should compete in the event as a requirement of granting a WorldTeam licence without providing a participation allowance to teams, as is the case with other

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ...

races. It was reported that the

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

teams attending the AIGCP General Assembly also supported the motion. The UCI expressed disappointment with the move and stated that it "continued to expect excellent participation in this year's UCI Road World Championships Team Time Trial".

Schedule

All times are in

Arabia Standard Time UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...

(

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...

Courses

The races primarily started and finished in the capital city of

, the home base for the

Tour of Qatar The Tour of Qatar was an annual professional cycling stage race held in Qatar. First organized in 2002, the event was part of the UCI Asia Tour until 2016. The 2017 edition was to have seen the event upgraded to the UCI World Tour for the firs ...

. The initial plans were to have a flat time trial circuit , with the men riding it four times, and a larger flat circuit of around for the road race. However, UCI sport and technical director Philippe Chevallier stated in June 2013 that the courses did not meet the requirements for a world championship and it had been decided to construct a hilly purpose-built course, like had been done for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. Despite this, in February 2014 Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Thani, the president of the

Qatar Cycling Federation The Qatar Cycling Federation (in Arabic: الاتحاد القطري للدراجات الهوائية) is the national governing body of cycle racing in Qatar. It was officially founded in 2002. Mohammed Jaham Al-Kuwari was its president as of Apr ...

, said that the organisers would not create a purpose-built course for the World Championships due to a lack of time. The route for the Worlds road races was presented in February 2015, which was made up of a loop of through the desert and a finishing circuit in Doha city centre, including of

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...

s. The finishing circuit of on

The Pearl-Qatar The Pearl Island ( ar, جزيرة اللؤلؤة, jazirat alluwlua) in Doha, Qatar, is an artificial island spanning nearly four square kilometers. It is the first land in Qatar to be available for freehold ownership by foreign nationals. As of ...

was used for a stage of February's

: riders noted that the course was highly technical, going through 24

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

s, with stage winner

Alexander Kristoff Alexander Kristoff (born 5 July 1987) is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2007 and 2011. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan ...

comparing it to a

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

. However it was also noted that the lack of long straight sections meant that the effect of the

crosswind A crosswind is any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel. This affects the aerodynamics of many forms of transport. Moving non-parallel to the wind's direction creates a crosswind component on the object and th ...

s frequently occurring in Qatar would be significantly lessened, reducing the race's unpredictability. Subsequently, in August 2016 it was reported that the UCI had made changes to the course, increasing the amount of riding through the desert to and reducing the number of laps of the finishing circuit from eleven down to seven. The start of the men's race was also moved to the

Aspire Zone Aspire Zone, also known as Doha Sports City, is a sporting complex located in the Baaya district of Al Rayyan, a suburb of Doha, Qatar. Owned by the Aspire Zone Foundation, it was established as an international sports destination in 2003 and ...

, with the riders heading out northwards towards

Al Khor Al Khor ( ar, الخور; also spelled ''Al Khawr''), officially Al Khor and Al Thakhira, is a municipality in coastal northeastern Qatar. Al Khor City, the municipal seat, is located in the northeast coast of Qatar, around from the capital, ...

and returning to Doha. The women started from the

Qatar Foundation Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development ( ar, مؤسسة قطر) is a state-led non-profit organization in Qatar, founded in 1995 by then-emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his second wife Moza bint Nasser. Qatar Founda ...

Education City Education City is a development in Al Rayyan, Qatar. Developed by the Qatar Foundation, the property houses various educational facilities, including satellite campuses of eight international universities. History Education City was launched by ...

, and completed seven laps of the finishing circuit, with a total race distance of .

Events summary

Elite events

Under-23 events

Junior events

Medal table

Broadcasting

;Live coverage *Austria:

ORF Sport + ORF Sport + is an Austrian sports channel owned by the public service broadcaster, ORF. The channel is available via satellite Astra 1KR, on 19.2°E, cable and DVB-T, in Austria and parts of Europe. History Before the launch of ORF Sport Plus on ...

*Belgium:

Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

Eén Eén (stylized as één; en, "one") is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadca ...

La Deux Tipik is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by the French-language public-service broadcasting organization RTBF. History From RTbis to Télé 2 On March 26, 1977, RTB launched a second television channel called RTBis, wh ...

*Brazil:

SporTV SporTV is a Brazilian pay television sports network owned by Canais Globo, part of Grupo Globo, launched in 1991. It is the most watched sports network in Brazil. On January 18, 2013, were launched High-definition simulcasts of SporTV and ...

, SporTV 2 *Brunei: Astro SuperSport 2 *Canada: RDS,

RDS2 RDS2 is a Canadian French language sports specialty channel, acting as the secondary feed of French language television network Réseau des sports, owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc. The channel was launched on October 7, 2011, to coincide wit ...

*China:

LeSports LeSports () is a company that Le.com owned 10.34% stake. Established in 2014, Letv Sports Culture Develop Ltd. has raised in tranche A funding, valuing the video-streaming business at , setting some new records in funding capital and expected mark ...

*Czech Republic:

ČT Sport ČT Sport is Czech Republic, Czech national sports channel, operated by Česká televize. History ČT Sport was launched on 10 February 2006 at 'ČT4 Sport', to promote digital television, its main programmes include football (soccer), football, ...

*Denmark: TV 2 Sport, (Internet: TV2 Play) *Estonia: Viasat Sport Baltic *France:

beIN Sports 2 beIN Sports MENA ( ar, بي إن سبورتس العربية) is a subsidiary of beIN Sports. It is based in Doha, Qatar, serving the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. They are owned by beIN Media Group, a former subsidiary of Al Jaze ...

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

*Germany:

Eurosport 1 Eurosport 1 is a France, French television sports network channel which is a division of Eurosport and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012, and became majority shareholder in the ...

*Hungary:

Sport1 Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuania) * Sport1 (Netherlands) Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuani ...

, Sport2 *India:

Sony SIX Sony Sports Ten 5 (formerly Sony Six) is an Indian English-language pay television sports channel operated by Culver Max Entertainment. It is part of the Sony Sports Network. History Sony SIX was launched in April 2012 by Sony Pictures Networ ...

*Ireland:

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

*Israel: Sport 2 *Italy:

Rai Sport 1 Rai Sport is an Italian sports TV channel, launched in 1999 by the state-owned RAI television network. It broadcast Italian and international sports events in Italy on DTT channel 146 on ''Rai Mux B''. It is also available on Sky Italia. On 18 ...

*Japan:

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...

NHK BS1 , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

*Latvia: Viasat Sport Baltic *Lithuania: Viasat Sport Baltic *Malaysia: Astro SuperSport 2 *

MENA MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

(Pan Middle-East):

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

, Alkass *Netherlands:

NPO 1 NPO 1 (''NPO een'', formerly Nederland 1 until 2014) is the first national television station in the Netherlands. It launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels NPO 2 and NPO 3. Severa ...

*New Zealand: Sky Sport *Norway: TV 2, TV 2 Sportskanalen *PAN Africa: SuperSport *Portugal:

RTP 2 RTP2 (''RTP dois'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting cultura ...

, (Internet: RTP Play) *Russia: Arena/Planeta *Slovakia:

Dvojka Dvojka (formerly STV2) is a Slovak television channel owned and operated by RTVS Radio and Television of Slovakia ( sk, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska ) or RTVS is a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. It i ...

*Spain:

Teledeporte Teledeporte (TDP) is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Televisión Española (TVE), the television division of state-owned public broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE). It is the corporation's sports telev ...

*Sweden:

TV3 Sport TV3 Sport is a Danish sports television channel, owned by Viaplay Group and operated by TV3 SPORT. The channel originally broadcast as TV 2 SPORT and was a joint-venture between TV 2 and Modern Times Group. MTG launched a dedicated Danish version ...

, TV10 *Switzerland:

RSI La 2 RSI La 2 (''RSI La due'') is a Swiss public television channel owned by Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua Italiana. It is a sister channel of RSI La 1, broadcast in Italian. It mainly airs sport programmes, but also reruns and music shows. It d ...

RTS Deux RTS 2 (''RTS deux''), launched on 1 September 1997 as TSR2 and renamed in 2012, is the second Switzerland, Swiss (French-speaking) public television channel owned by Radio Télévision Suisse, RTS Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS); the other is RT ...

SRF zwei SRF zwei (''Swiss Radio and Television Two'') is a Swiss German-language free-to-air television channel run under the public SRG SSR broadcasting group. History The channel was launched in 1997 as 'SF 2' as the German-speaking replacement f ...

*Turkey:

NTV Spor NTV Spor is a Turkish online sports platform. NTV Spor used to be a nationwide TV channel between 2008 and 2018. As of April 2021, NTV Spor continues to produce content via their website and YouTube channel. NTV Spor used to hold broadcasting ri ...

*United Kingdom:

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

*United States:

Universal HD Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

, (Internet: liveextra.nbcsports.com) *Worldwide internet: tv.uci.ch ;Other TV partners *

Polsat Sport Extra Polsat Sport Extra is a Polish television sports channel owned and operated by Polsat. Polsat Sport Extra HD Polsat Sport Extra HD is a second sports channel owned by Polsat, which broadcasts in HD. This channel have the same programming sched ...

(Poland) *

Sport Klub Sportklub is a subscription sports television service which has been broadcast in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia since 2006, Croatia from 2007 and in North Macedonia from 2011. A different version of the channel has ...

(Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia) *

Sportsnet One Sportsnet One (SN1 or SN One) is a Canadian English-language discretionary digital cable and satellite specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media; it operates as a national sports channel complementing the Sportsnet group of regional sp ...

(Canada) * SBS (Australia) * TDN (Mexico) *

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

(PAN America) *

RCN Televisión RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN (''Radio Cadena Nacional'') is a Colombian free-to-air television network. It is a Colombian open television channel, belonging to the Ardila Lülle Organization. It was founded as a television content produ ...

(Colombia) Sources

References

External links

*
Event page
at '' UCI.ch''
Official results
of official time keeper ''

Tissot Tissot SA () is a Swiss watchmaker. The company was founded in Le Locle, Switzerland by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Émile Tissot, in 1853. After several mergers and name changes, the group which Tissot SA belonged to was renam ...

Timing'' {{DEFAULTSORT:UCI Road World Championships, 2016 2016 in Qatari sport 2016 in road cycling 21st century in Doha International cycle races hosted by Qatar October 2016 sports events in Asia

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...